I only need a few more people to visit my blog and I will reach 5,000. When I started the blog I never dreamed I would have so many visitors! Now, if only some would comment about my ramblings, then I would know I was on the right track.
Luckily I set off early (7:50) for tennis this morning as the weather was very iffy and finally the rain came down in earnest around 10:45. By that time I had had two sets and we were on our second pot of coffee. I was running things today and Tony asked me to increase the caffeine content of the second pot - he is a serious coffee drinker. Seemingly the first pot tasted like decaf to him. As that's what I normally drink, I didn't notice the difference. My rhubarb bread went down well and was all gone before we closed up shop.
It rained off and on all afternoon but seems to have dried up now. I had to run out in between showers to pick some more rhubarb so I could bake another cake for the freezer. There is enough rhubarb for a few more cakes or pies and maybe even a batch of jam, probably the result of so much rain recently.
I am going to try a new recipe for dinner - Sticky Ginger Chicken with Rice. The stickiness comes from a marmalade and honey glaze and it has apricots in it as well as garlic, onions and peppers. It sounds delicious and quite easy to make. We'll see!
Friday 17 July 2015
Thursday 16 July 2015
Out All Day
One of these days when I hardly get any chores done but, who's checking. My time is my own do with whatever I want. A 9:30 departure for the PROBUS meeting which turned out to be very entertaining. After the announcements I was introduced as a new member and was welcomed by many during the coffee break. Very pleasant!
The speaker today gave us an interesting overview of the Franklin Expedition to the Arctic during the 19th century and his opinion of what transpired to cause the ultimate loss of life of all the seamen. Apart from the fact that the ships were frozen in the ice for 17 months, the culprit may have been lead in the tinned food they brought along. He also explored the notion that some of the seamen may have resorted to cannibalism as their food ran out, rather a gruesome idea.
I went straight from the meeting to Anne's for an al fresco lunch of sandwiches, fruit, tarts and tea, along with several of her other friends from dancing groups. She gave us a tour of her huge and well maintained garden, surely a lot of work! I know how much time my tiny back yard requires just to keep ahead of the weeds, so I can only imagine how much time she has to spend on hers
After leaving Anne's I headed for Rona as I had a coupon for extra Air Miles and was on the lookout for a hibachi. They didn't have exactly what I had in mind but I found a portable propane powered grill that should be adequate for my needs. I still have to put it together and buy the correct size of propane cylinder. I don't think it has the correct connection for the one I used with my old (and now deceased) BBQ. I will get Judy to have a look at it the next time she is over.
A nice easy dinner tonight as I am not overly hungry, just salad and some ham. No dessert as I rather overdid the sweet stuff at Anne's. It was so tempting!
The speaker today gave us an interesting overview of the Franklin Expedition to the Arctic during the 19th century and his opinion of what transpired to cause the ultimate loss of life of all the seamen. Apart from the fact that the ships were frozen in the ice for 17 months, the culprit may have been lead in the tinned food they brought along. He also explored the notion that some of the seamen may have resorted to cannibalism as their food ran out, rather a gruesome idea.
I went straight from the meeting to Anne's for an al fresco lunch of sandwiches, fruit, tarts and tea, along with several of her other friends from dancing groups. She gave us a tour of her huge and well maintained garden, surely a lot of work! I know how much time my tiny back yard requires just to keep ahead of the weeds, so I can only imagine how much time she has to spend on hers
After leaving Anne's I headed for Rona as I had a coupon for extra Air Miles and was on the lookout for a hibachi. They didn't have exactly what I had in mind but I found a portable propane powered grill that should be adequate for my needs. I still have to put it together and buy the correct size of propane cylinder. I don't think it has the correct connection for the one I used with my old (and now deceased) BBQ. I will get Judy to have a look at it the next time she is over.
A nice easy dinner tonight as I am not overly hungry, just salad and some ham. No dessert as I rather overdid the sweet stuff at Anne's. It was so tempting!
Wednesday 15 July 2015
Hot Spell Over
We had a very hot weekend and Tuesday, although overcast and rainy was still quite hot and humid. However, some time overnight the weather suddenly changed, a wind came up from the north and the temperature dropped to 12C. What a shock when I opened the front door this morning to pick up the newspaper! At some point during the night I got up to close the windows so the house had stayed at a very comfortable 17C and it has only risen a couple of degrees since. Good gardening weather!
Yesterday I had a couple of sets of tennis before the rain arrived. Judy and the kids were due to come over for lunch and luckily the rain stopped for a while and they got in the pool. They had great fun although the rain started up again but they were well and truly wet anyway so it didn't cramp their style.
Today I biked over to the Senior's centre to man the coffee bar. It still is not very busy there as a lot of people are away for the summer so it was easy to keep ahead of the coffee requests. I was home by 12:00 noon and had a busy afternoon in the garden. It is looking much tidier but there are still little pockets of weeds that need to be obliterated.
Yesterday I made some delicious Raspberry scones from the "Ricardo" magazine and have been overindulging in them. I read an article in another magazine that a good way to drop some pounds is to abstain from carbohydrates after lunch - that will be hard to do with them tempting me from the freezer! I will have to relegate them to breakfast or morning snack.
Dinner tonight is a yummy and healthy fish casserole I made yesterday and the broccoli tabbouleh from Monday. Not many carbs in that. The fish dish was a basa fillet cut into 6 or 7 pieces and covered with a cheese sauce into which I had wilted two kale leaves, chopped up small. This was covered with bread crumbs and more cheese and baked in the oven. It was exactly enough for two meals. I don't seem to be making any headway with using up the kale and now the cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen. The lettuce has shot up like a rocket but I may be able to salvage a few leaves.
Yesterday I had a couple of sets of tennis before the rain arrived. Judy and the kids were due to come over for lunch and luckily the rain stopped for a while and they got in the pool. They had great fun although the rain started up again but they were well and truly wet anyway so it didn't cramp their style.
Today I biked over to the Senior's centre to man the coffee bar. It still is not very busy there as a lot of people are away for the summer so it was easy to keep ahead of the coffee requests. I was home by 12:00 noon and had a busy afternoon in the garden. It is looking much tidier but there are still little pockets of weeds that need to be obliterated.
Yesterday I made some delicious Raspberry scones from the "Ricardo" magazine and have been overindulging in them. I read an article in another magazine that a good way to drop some pounds is to abstain from carbohydrates after lunch - that will be hard to do with them tempting me from the freezer! I will have to relegate them to breakfast or morning snack.
Dinner tonight is a yummy and healthy fish casserole I made yesterday and the broccoli tabbouleh from Monday. Not many carbs in that. The fish dish was a basa fillet cut into 6 or 7 pieces and covered with a cheese sauce into which I had wilted two kale leaves, chopped up small. This was covered with bread crumbs and more cheese and baked in the oven. It was exactly enough for two meals. I don't seem to be making any headway with using up the kale and now the cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen. The lettuce has shot up like a rocket but I may be able to salvage a few leaves.
Monday 13 July 2015
Ricardo
I received a new magazine today and have already tried one of the recipes! The magazine is called "Ricardo", after the chef who has developed it and the recipes. I seem to recall that he had a cooking show on the Food Network a few years ago.
The recipe I tried is Broccoli Tabbouleh. In the photo it is shown with Pork tenderloin and an egg but I just had it with some leftover chicken which I cooked yesterday. It was very quick and easy to prepare as you chop the broccoli quite finely in the food processor so it takes just minutes to cook. And the bulgar wheat also only needs 4 minutes. It seemed a bit bland so I substituted low sodium chicken stock for the water and added a dash of turmeric. It made enough for a couple of meals.
The recipe I tried is Broccoli Tabbouleh. In the photo it is shown with Pork tenderloin and an egg but I just had it with some leftover chicken which I cooked yesterday. It was very quick and easy to prepare as you chop the broccoli quite finely in the food processor so it takes just minutes to cook. And the bulgar wheat also only needs 4 minutes. It seemed a bit bland so I substituted low sodium chicken stock for the water and added a dash of turmeric. It made enough for a couple of meals.
And, as promised, a photo of Lucy lounging on the couch in one of her quieter moments!
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